The Comprehension Approach and the Communicative Approach

In the comprehension approach there is a strong focus on actual language input and lowering the effective filter that sometimes inhibits students acquiring language.  The comprehension approach is still commonly used in many classrooms around the world. The approach is based on ideas and research in linguistics and specifically, language acquisition in children.

The comprehension approach is based on the research and writings of Stephen Krashen.  Krashen and  James J Asher asserted that students learn language through comprehensible input and that teaching should focus on helping students comprehend language. Much like a child learns, James J. Asher created a teaching method based on the comprehension approach called Total Physical Response. This focuses on comprehension and giving learners time to process language before having to speak.  

The main purpose of this technique, and indeed any of the methods that fall under the comprehension approach, is to help make meaning clear or to make input comprehensible. As learners have success in understanding input in the target language during their silent period, they will gain confidence and eventually begin speaking in the target language as well. Teachers in the comprehension approach try to help students understand target language input by using physical objects in the classroom, realia, and  other visual aids. Teachers also use observable actions like jumping, sitting, opening the door, ect. They combine these actions and objects in new and, sometimes nonsense ways to make language input that is fun for students. Teachers also use observable actions to teach verbs such as jump, sit or open your book. Sometimes these verbs or objects are combined with chunks of language such as common phrases or greetings. So that learners can begin to understand all aspects of verbal communication in the target language. They typically use command forms of the language, and may string several commands together to form a sequence of actions for students to perform. Once students have begun to speak in the target language, teachers may ask students to give commands, called role reversal, but the main focus of the comprehension approach, is on understanding input. 

Just like children learn their first language, students should be allowed to just listen. Understanding listening is important before students  produce any language. This is the silent period, and depending on the learner, a silent period can be short or long. Listening to real language input and really understanding it will make them confident enough that they will begin to speak and produce language, as well as understand it. As teachers we want students to be able to understand what they hear in the target language. They need to feel confident in their language ability and increase in their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and so on by listening. Our main goal is to help learners develop the desire to learn the language for the joy of learning and not for external motivations. Also, those who learn languages faster will generally do better in this approach.

The Silent Period

The silent period  is supposed to mimic the time when children are listening to their parents and others around them and forming connections in their brain with regards to grammar and vocabulary in their first language. Thus, there is a greater focus on comprehension and less on production.

During the silent period, teachers help students gain confidence. By giving them language input that is just above their current level of understanding and using physical actions to make connections between what they are hearing and what they already know. A teacher teaches language by combining commands, such as sit down or open your book. In the target language with physical actions that the students can observe and therefore, follow. We may combine these into sequences of actions. Sometimes we will have students take on the role of teacher and have them work with students at a lower level of understanding. This helps students use the language they know and provide comprehensible input for those they are mentoring.

 Students remember the language by connecting what they are already familiar with to what they are learning. They then have opportunities to hear and use the language they know in very specific situations.  This helps reinforce what they have learned and makes their language knowledge more automatic.

Teachers do not just talk at students, they help their students. Understand what they are saying without translation by repeating commands and using physical actions and commands. That way, students learn what those commands are in the language they're learning. The teacher wants them to feel successful and gain confidence, so they eventually will begin speaking the language as well. 

Role Reversal 

In any given classroom, there are always learners who are more advanced than others and teachers can have those learners who've already begun speaking the language take on the role of teacher and work with those who are still in their silent period. Part of the time, students spend in their silent period is building those initial language connections and understanding what grammar and vocabulary are. When working with students, many already know those things, so they just need to connect what they are learning to what they already know. That makes things go a lot faster. Teachers can also make classes fun by mixing actions to make nonsense commands that are fun for the students.

The communicative Approach

This approach came about in the 1970s and early 80s and focused on the overall goal of using language to communicate meaning. People began to realize that effective communication required more than just a knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and that there were many different ways to communicate similar meanings. As such there is no one way to teach. Additionally, the world was becoming smaller, and people were encountering situations where they needed to speak a foreign language more frequently for work or for travel. These people did not have the luxury of time required by the comprehension approach, and needed to learn to communicate effectively in the target language. 

The Use of Games 
The communicative approach depends on using games in class. It depends on loving cultures and meeting people from all over the world. Language is a way to get to know different people,  communicate, and learn more about others. Language is a way to create opportunities for students to interact,  improve educationally and professionally. Language in the class becomes a portal,  a gateway to understanding and creating a global society of friends.

Different Ways to Learn 
There are different ways to learn a language. Nobody learns the same way. Some people learn languages through video and audio, others need to touch real objects and see pictures. Some students learn through games.  So, the classroom has to be exciting and fun, accommodating different learning styles.  A teacher should try to help students remember the language by making  lessons memorable. This entails choosing  material students are interested in, and use those to help them learn a language. This makes learning fun, and if students are having fun,  they are engaged, and  motivated. 

The communicative approach is so broad. Two communicative classrooms could look very different. This gives teachers using this approach a lot of freedom in what they do in the classroom and how they help their students acquire language. Consequently, teachers should be interested in using new strategies and new techniques and should stay up on the latest in technology and teacher strategy. A teacher should make learning fun and interesting. A teacher can use games, high interest topics, field trips, mobile devices, and websites; whatever it takes to keep students engaged and interacting in the language. Teachers need to know about pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading, writing, and culture. 

Teachers help students prepare for high stake tests like the TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS. A teacher needs to know a lot, and use that to help students learn language. 
   
Not Teaching Everything

Teachers in the communicative approach do not teach everything. They focus on the goal of using a language, communication and  understand that differences among students require different resources and different techniques. 

Gamification and Authentic Material
Gamification and fun techniques have become a staple of the communicative approach, but that does not mean that it takes the place of sound education. Learning should always come before entertainment in a sound, communicative approach. The communicative approach, like other learner-centered approaches, recognizes that students learn better when they are properly motivated and engaged. Using games that students are familiar with can often help students participate better. It reduces the effective filter and allows language learners to engage and understand the classroom language.

Just learning vocabulary and grammar does not help students communicate. So teachers focus on aspects of engaging topics and activities to really help the students communicate. That means they may have to teach multiple ways to use a single phrase or to put their teaching in to particular communicative mode, in order to help students learn to communicate better.  Using authentic material is one of the best ways to do so. A teacher can  bring a menu to class but it has to be leveled appropriately. Teachers use books magazines, movies, news papers, advertisements, even restaurant menus. When things are given to students at the correct level, it truly engages them and helps them want to learn. The communicative approach allows teachers to see how real language situations and communication principles can be given to learners through carefully planned games and activities at the level. 

Blending Approaches to Fit Purpose

In real classes, teachers blend the communicative approach with other language approaches to fit the purpose, content and technique of the teaching contexts.  Teachers are given  many different groups with different purposes, different learning styles and teachers are expected to be experts of all of these different contexts. Teachers feel the communicative approach really does not have clear boundaries. Any activity or exercise that gets students communicating in the target language, maybe considered part of this broad understanding of the communicative approach.

Using the Language in Authentic Situations

One of the biggest problem in any educational setting is getting students to take what they learned in the classroom and apply it in the real world. And the same holds true for language teaching. How many students actually transfer the knowledge they gained during classroom practice and activities, to language situations they face outside the classroom. In order to aid in this transfer of language skills, teachers in the communicative approach try to make the language practice in the classroom as close to the real world as possible. This can be done through making students speak up and give their opinion via using open-ended questions on hot-topics.

 Communicative Activities

 Sequencing Activities

 An integral part of communication is understanding queues in the language, knowing when it is okay to respond to someone or when someone is finished with their idea. To help learners understand and use these types of communication cues, teachers give students dialogues or paragraphs with the sentences mixed up and have them put the sentences or utterances back in the correct order. These types of activities, help students understand that language is not a bunch of words and sentences just thrown together, but a group of ideas connected for purpose and how those ideas flow together. 

Language Games 

Learners are more engaged when they are having fun. When teachers play games in the classroom, but they should make sure they are for the purpose of teaching language. Structure the activity/game so that students have to work in teams and communicate with each other in the target language. This helps students increase their engagement and give them opportunities to  practice the language as well. In some games, the focus of the game may be the language itself. 

For example, you may give students a set of cards with words on them and they have to put the words together to form a variety of sentences. Or cards with pictures and the students have to use the pictures to tell a story. In other games, you may just be reviewing principles already covered in class. The structure of the game provides communicative opportunities for the students. Jeopardy game is excellent for revision and fun. Levels also the flavor of fun.

Information Gap 

One of the important tenets of the communicative approach is that the communication must be for specific purpose. If there is no reason for the communication, then it is not real communication. Many times, people communicate to get information from another person, using information gap.  Information gap activities is inteseting and fun. It also make students use the language.

Role Plays 

Another important communicative activity is the role play. Students are given a specific communicative context, such as ordering in a restaurant, and are each given specific roles, such as waiter, customer, manager or chef. The students must communicate with each other in the given context, acting out the role they have been given. For lower level students, the teacher may give them specific language to use, like a written dialogue, whereas, more advanced students may be asked to create the language themselves on the spot. As with information gaps, its focus, is more on the communication and being understood by their fellow students, than on the language itself and any errors they might make.

To sum up, in the communicative approach there is a focus on speaking right from the very beginning as the purpose of the communicative approach is to help learners communicate in that target language. Teachers want their learners to love people, cultures, and places by connecting with them through language and the use of language for meaningful communication. They teach by using books with high interest themes that have been leveled appropriate for their students. A lot of these books contains lessons that focus on all four skills. Reading writing, listening and speaking. Many books also contain additional lessons or components on pronunciation, grammar, presentation skills etc., that help our students communicate better. Techniques in a communicative approach involve the use of authentic materials, information gaps, language games and role plays. Activities and exercises put students in situations where they have opportunities to communicate using the language for meaningful purposes such as getting information and giving opinion.